Managing semantic data in a contextual workspace

Abstract

Techniques for managing a virtual workspace include: generating a virtual workspace viewable by a user on a graphical user interface, the virtual workspace comprising a plurality of workspace modules comprising data contained in a plurality of data objects; identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data object of the plurality of data objects; and providing, through the virtual workspace, at least one suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A method performed with a computing system for managing a virtual workspace, the method comprising:
 generating an initial virtual workspace viewable by a user on a graphical user interface, the initial virtual workspace comprising a plurality of workspace modules comprising data contained in a plurality of data objects, the initial virtual workspace associated with i) a first view of the plurality of workspace modules and ii) a first timestamp; 
 identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data object of the plurality of data objects; 
 providing, through the initial virtual workspace, at least one suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user; 
 modifying, based on the suggestion, the initial virtual workspace to include an additional workspace module comprising data contained in the plurality of data objects, the modified virtual workspace associated with i) a second view of the plurality of workspace modules and the additional workspace module and ii) a second timestamp; 
 filtering the first and second views based on i) a user-selected timestamp of the first and the second timestamps and ii) user-selected data of the data contained in the plurality of data objects of the initial workspace and the modified virtual workspace; 
 based on the filtering, retrieving at least one of the first and second views that corresponds to both the user-selected timestamp and the user-selected data to provide a retrieved view of the virtual workspace; and 
 preparing the retrieved view of the virtual workspace for display. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving the suggestion from a content provider communicably coupled to the initial virtual workspace. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in the plurality of data objects comprises at least one of:
 identifying a workspace module added to the virtual initial workspace by the user; 
 identifying a selection of a workspace module in the plurality of workspace modules; 
 identifying a selection of the data contained in the particular data object; or 
 identifying a metric of the particular data object among a plurality of metrics. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying metadata associated with the data interacted with by the user; and 
 identifying the data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user based on the identified metadata. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 generating a plurality of suggestions, each suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user; and 
 ranking the plurality of identified suggestions based on a calculated relevancy of each of the plurality of identified suggestions. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein ranking the plurality of identified suggestions based on a calculated relevancy of each of the plurality of identified suggestions comprises:
 determining, for each data object, an occurrence frequency of at least one keyword from the metadata associated with the data interacted with by the user in the data contained in the plurality of data objects; and 
 determining an order of the data objects based on the determined occurrence frequencies, wherein a data object having the highest occurrence frequency is at a top of the order and a data object having a lowest occurrence frequency is at a bottom of the order. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of data objects comprise a first data object and a second data object, the method further comprising:
 identifying at least one metric of the first data object; 
 matching the identified metric to a metric of the second data object; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the second data object. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of data objects comprise a plurality of data cubes, and wherein identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data object of the plurality of data objects comprises identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data cube of the plurality of data cubes. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 identifying at least one metric of the particular data cube interacted with by the user; 
 searching the plurality of data cubes for another data cube having the identified metric of the particular data cube interacted with by the user; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 querying the other data cube for at least one view of data contained in the other data cube that matches a view of data contained in at least one workspace module in the initial virtual workspace viewable in the graphical user interface; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of the view of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 searching the plurality of data cubes for at least one report utilizing the view of data contained in the other data cube that matches a view of data contained in at least one workspace module; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of the report utilizing the view of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       12. An apparatus comprising instructions embodied on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media, the instructions operable when executed to cause a computing system to perform operations comprising:
 generating an initial virtual workspace viewable by a user on a graphical user interface, the initial virtual workspace comprising a plurality of workspace modules comprising data contained in a plurality of data objects, the initial virtual workspace associated with i) a first view of the plurality of workspace modules and ii) a first timestamp; 
 identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data object of the plurality of data objects; 
 providing, through the initial virtual workspace, at least one suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user; 
 modifying, based on the suggestion, the initial virtual workspace to include an additional workspace module comprising data contained in the plurality of data objects, the modified virtual workspace associated with i) a second view of the plurality of workspace modules and the additional workspace module and ii) a second timestamp; 
 filtering the first and second views based on i) a user-selected timestamp of the first and the second timestamps and ii) user-selected data of the data contained in the plurality of data objects of the initial workspace and the modified virtual workspace; 
 based on the filtering, retrieving at least one of the first and second views that corresponds to both the user-selected timestamp and the user-selected data to provide a retrieved view of the virtual workspace; and 
 preparing the retrieved view of the virtual workspace for display. 
 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving the suggestion from a content provider communicably coupled to the initial virtual workspace. 
     
     
       14. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in the plurality of data objects comprises at least one of:
 identifying a workspace module added to the initial virtual workspace by the user; 
 identifying a selection of a workspace module in the plurality of workspace modules; 
 identifying a selection of the data contained in the particular data object; or 
 identifying a metric of the particular data object among a plurality of metrics. 
 
     
     
       15. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying metadata associated with the data interacted with by the user; and 
 identifying the data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user based on the identified metadata. 
 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 generating a plurality of suggestions, each suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user; and 
 ranking the plurality of identified suggestions based on a calculated relevancy of each of the plurality of identified suggestions. 
 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein ranking the plurality of identified suggestions based on a calculated relevancy of each of the plurality of identified suggestions comprises:
 determining, for each data object, an occurrence frequency of at least one keyword from the metadata associated with the data interacted with by the user in the data contained in the plurality of data objects; and 
 determining an order of the data objects based on the determined occurrence frequencies, wherein a data object having the highest occurrence frequency is at a top of the order and a data object having a lowest occurrence frequency is at a bottom of the order. 
 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of data objects comprise a first data object and a second data object, and wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying at least one metric of the first data object; 
 matching the identified metric to a metric of the second data object; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the second data object. 
 
     
     
       19. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of data objects comprise a plurality of data cubes, and wherein identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data object of the plurality of data objects comprises identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data cube of the plurality of data cubes. 
     
     
       20. The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying at least one metric of the particular data cube interacted with by the user; 
 searching the plurality of data cubes for another data cube having the identified metric of the particular data cube interacted with by the user; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       21. The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 querying the other data cube for at least one view of data contained in the other data cube that matches a view of data contained in at least one workspace module in the initial virtual workspace viewable in the graphical user interface; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of the view of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       22. The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 searching the plurality of data cubes for at least one report utilizing the view of data contained in the other data cube that matches a view of data contained in at least one workspace module; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of the report utilizing the view of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       23. A computing system, comprising
 one or more memory modules; 
 one or more processors; 
 a graphical user interface; and 
 a contextual services module stored on one or more of the memory modules, the contextual services module operable when executed with the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 generating an initial virtual workspace viewable on a graphical user interface, the initial virtual workspace comprising a plurality of workspace modules comprising data contained in a plurality of data objects, the initial virtual workspace associated with i) a first view of the plurality of workspace modules and ii) a first timestamp; 
 identifying an interaction by a user of the virtual workspace with at least some of the data contained in a particular data object of the plurality of data objects; 
 providing, through the initial virtual workspace, at least one suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user; 
 modifying, based on the suggestion, the initial virtual workspace to include an additional workspace module comprising data contained in the plurality of data objects, the modified virtual workspace associated with i) a second view of the plurality of workspace modules and the additional workspace module and ii) a second timestamp; 
 filtering the first and second views based on i) a user-selected timestamp of the first and the second timestamps and ii) user-selected data of the data contained in the plurality of data objects of the initial workspace and the modified virtual workspace; and 
 based on the filtering, retrieving at least one of the first and second views that corresponds to both the user-selected timestamp and the user-selected data to provide a retrieved view of the virtual workspace; and 
 preparing the retrieved view of the virtual workspace for display. 
 
 
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 23 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving the suggestion from a content provider communicably coupled to the initial virtual workspace. 
     
     
       25. The system of  claim 23 , wherein identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in the plurality of data objects comprises at least one of:
 identifying a workspace module added to the initial virtual workspace by the user; 
 identifying a selection of a workspace module in the plurality of workspace modules; 
 identifying a selection of the data contained in the particular data object; or 
 identifying a metric of the particular data object among a plurality of metrics. 
 
     
     
       26. The system of  claim 23 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying metadata associated with the data interacted with by the user; and 
 identifying the data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user based on the identified metadata. 
 
     
     
       27. The system of  claim 26 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 generating a plurality of suggestions, each suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the plurality of data objects that is semantically related to the data interacted with by the user; and 
 ranking the plurality of identified suggestions based on a calculated relevancy of each of the plurality of identified suggestions. 
 
     
     
       28. The system of  claim 27 , wherein ranking the plurality of identified suggestions based on a calculated relevancy of each of the plurality of identified suggestions comprises:
 determining, for each data object, an occurrence frequency of at least one keyword from the metadata associated with the data interacted with by the user in the data contained in the plurality of data objects; and 
 determining an order of the data objects based on the determined occurrence frequencies, wherein a data object having the highest occurrence frequency is at a top of the order and a data object having a lowest occurrence frequency is at a bottom of the order. 
 
     
     
       29. The system of  claim 23 , wherein the plurality of data objects comprise a first data object and a second data object, and wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying at least one metric of the first data object; 
 matching the identified metric to a metric of the second data object; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the second data object. 
 
     
     
       30. The system of  claim 23 , wherein the plurality of data objects comprise a plurality of data cubes, and wherein identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data object of the plurality of data objects comprises identifying an interaction by the user with at least some of the data contained in a particular data cube of the plurality of data cubes. 
     
     
       31. The system of  claim 30 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying at least one metric of the particular data cube interacted with by the user; 
 searching the plurality of data cubes for another data cube having the identified metric of the particular data cube interacted with by the user; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       32. The system of  claim 31 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 querying the other data cube for at least one view of data contained in the other data cube that matches a view of data contained in at least one workspace module in the initial virtual workspace viewable in the graphical user interface; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of the view of data contained in the other data cube. 
 
     
     
       33. The system of  claim 32 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 searching the plurality of data cubes for at least one report utilizing the view of data contained in the other data cube that matches a view of data contained in at least one workspace module; and 
 generating the suggestion comprising a description of the report utilizing the view of data contained in the other data cube.